1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes dryer, and more particularly, to a clothes dryer in which a hot blast is used to perform a dry process and moisture generated during the dry process is condensed into waterdrops so as to be discharged.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a clothes dryer is an apparatus for automatically drying a dry object after a washing process. There are two different types of clothes dryers: a discharge type clothes dryer in which external air is introduced to perform a dry process and a condensation type clothes dryer in which internal air is circulated for the dry process and moisture is condensed into waterdrops to be discharged.
A condensation type clothes dryer of the related art will be described below in reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating main parts of a condensation type clothes dryer of the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, the arrow ‘’ indicates a flow passage of external air and the arrow ‘II’ indicates a flow passage of air circulating inside the clothes dryer.
As shown in FIG. 1, a condensation type clothes dryer of the related art includes a drum 1, a filter 2, a condenser 3, a circulation fan 5, a cooling fan 7, a heater (not shown), and a circulation duct (not shown).
At this time, the drum 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape and has a plurality of lifters (not shown) on its inner circumferential face. The drum 1 starts rotating by an action of a driving motor 4. For this end, as shown in FIG. 1, the drum 1 and driving motor 4 are connected to each other with a belt 6.
A filter 2 filters off such alien substances as lint particles from humid air being discharged from the inside of the drum 1. The humid air which passed through the filter 2 is condensed into waterdrops by the condenser 3, for which a heat exchange process between the humid air and external air is performed to eliminate moisture from the humid air. For this end, a cooling fan 7, in a circumferential direction, discharges the sucked external air through a duct 8 being connected to the condenser 3, thereby refrigerating the condenser 3.
The circulation fan 5 makes dry air of which moisture is eliminated flow into the drum 1 again. The heater heats the dry air before it flows into the drum 1. Although not shown, in the condensation type clothes dryer, the humid air after the dry process in the drum 1 is guided to orderly pass through the filter 2, the condenser 3, the circulation fan 5, and the heater, and finally, the air flows into the drum 1 again.
Generally, in the condensation type clothes dryer of the related art, the driving motor 4 is connected not only to the drum 1 but also to the cooling fan 7 and circulation fan 5.
When the dry process is started, by the operation of the driving motor 4, the drum 1, the cooling fan 7, and the circulation fan 5 are rotated simultaneously. Then, air inside the drum 1 is circulated by the action of the circulation fan 5. At this instance, the air initially circulated is not condensed by the condenser 3 because of its low temperature and low humidity state.
However, the clothes dryer of the related art results in a heat loss during the initial operation process of the clothes dryer as air heated by the heater is cooled down by the cooling fan 7 again.
Besides, as the cooling fan 7 is operated during the initial operation process of the clothes dryer during which the condensation does not occur, the driving motor 4 comes to have too much load.